Gordi the former AEW fan

Rampage was on at 6 am my time. I was not planning to watch it live but I woke up at 5:56 because I had to take a whiz. Good timing, my bladder. So, might as well, what the hey, YOLO, I stayed up and watched it live while chatting with my buddy Kyle, who lives in Canada or America or somewhere weird like that, and from whom I will steal a joke in this post. I agree with all of DEAN's takes on the show. I know this because I went right back to sleep pretty much as soon as the show ended. So, I was able to read his thoughts before posting mine, rather than typing simultaneously. I think Dante Martin is at least part mountain goat. Because he likes to sing about Chavo Sr. I owe my bladder one. FTR vs Top Flight was TOO MUCH FUN. Exactly what you'd hope for. Speed and athleticism vs savvy, toughness, and teamwork. LOVED the hyuge bandaids on Jericho's chest! HATED some random A-hole trying to start a WHAT chant in 2022, as Craig H pointed out in his ROAD REPORT. I am bewildered by the guy he described who presumably paid for tickets, parking, etc etc to sit in the arena and loudly complain I wonder if he's bragging about it on social media somewhere or whatever. Maybe Toni Storm will get Broken Face as her new theme song. We know Tony K likes The Pixies. YEAH! JD DRAKE ON TV! I hope this leads to Drake vs Sting and also a tag match. DARBY has great ring chemistry with Henry, like he does with B. King. Athena has to build some evil-looking wings now. YEAH! SHIDA ON TV! And vs AMINATA, too! Hooray! Dark Order gets a main event! Will the announcers act surprised when 10 turns? Yes, they will! Perfect use of -1 there. Butcher, Blade, Bunny, Bull, & Bad Friend. Now that 10 has turned, presumably he will go by from now on. BRYAN VS DAX! HEY NATURAL! BRYAN VS DAX!! Oh, baby! Edit: I got a screen cap of Uno unmasked:

I ended up playing through Dark Deity a couple more times. It's very much like the GBA Fire Emblem games. Then I downloaded Blackguards 2 because it was on sale for next to nothing. A great-looking game with enjoyable combat but frustrating puzzle levels. Then it was time for Triangle Strategy, which I LOVED even though there is waayyy too much story and not enough of the truly glorious combat. I got to the point where you have to make a huge decision between three imperfect options but then No Man's Sky came out on Switch and I wanted to see how that looked and (as often happens with me) I couldn't stop playing it. Definitely not a strategy RPG, though! It's kind of Skyrim but Sci Fi rather than Fantasy. But then my pre-ordered copy of Tactics Ogre Reborn arrived! YES! TACTICS OGRE ON THE SWITCH! It's like when AEW brings in Ishii or Suzuki or Akiyama. EXACTLY what I wanted. Oh boy is it GREAT. So much fun. Nostalgic, too. I finally get to play Let Us Cling Together, with QoL improvements and excellent guides online so I don't miss anything. I love struggling to finish the bosses before any of my characters are down for three turns and gone for good, or rushing over to revive the fallen so I can keep trying to recruit that Lizard Lady magic user or whatever. Just finished Chapter III. Now, do I complete the game or go back and finish Triangle Strategy? What a great question to be able to ask myself. No wrong answer! Anyone else played Triangle Strategy or Tactics Ogre Reborn?

@Matt D... One of the wrestlers we disagree on is Bruiser Brody. My opinion is that he earned his legendary reputation and image in Japan (and elsewhere) and is deserving of respect. I think it's fair too say that you consider him to be often lazy and selfish in the ring. I concede that his ring work was not consistently great but I think even at his worst he was close to good in the ring. The thing I really like, though, is that he was who he seemed to be. A real life wildman who spoke his mind and never pretended to be something he wasn't. So, I'm hoping we can agree that he had those two qualities. What I'm saying is, Bruiser Brody was: Frank. Good-ish.

Well. That was GREAT. I am interested in seeing whose cup of tea ISHII CONTINUING TO HAMMER JERICHO'S BLOODY CHEST WITH HIS RED RIGHT HAND turns out not to have been. Certainly, it was exactly my cup of tea. SO UNCOUTH! We've all done bad things. American Dragon speaks the truth. Storyline wise, they are teasing everything and paying nothing off today. Cool. Gives us something to anticipate. Nice pop for Orangey Boy. THEY ACTUALLY MADE THE HAT THE STORY. Also my cup of tea. Also interested to see who all wildly disagrees with that opinion. Best Hager match ever? Yes. Because of the hat. Nicky Boy vs B. King please! On Dark would be just fine. Glad to see Buddy Matthews back in the ring. Wrestling needs to have a Buddy, in my opinion. Buddy Wayne, Buddy Rose, Buddy Rodgers... Injured Body Part Psychology is almost as classic and effective as Hat-Based Psychology. Best Ethan Page AEW match so far? I think so. Chopping in the corner in time with the CM Punk chants! Looking forward to the Cutler-Cam view of that. Kenny's GTS takes Troll of the Night honours, though. Is doing a biting spot in Chicago a deliberate call-back? I liked the finish because I also keep a little hammer in my trunks, so I could relate. HAYTER IS CHAMP! I'M DRINKING ALL THE HAYTERAID! All that JAS tonight! THANKSGIVING MIRACLE was a good pay-off to that whole Injure Me Daddy Ass angle. SHIDA ON RAMPAGE! BUTCHER AND BLADE! While the rubes warch commercials, me and DEAN are listening to GENERIC HARD ROCK RIFFS! Stone Pitbull is, in my opinion, a better pro wrestling nickname than Fragile Porcelain Teacup Poodle. THAT APRON DDT BUMP! There were people who hated Kobashi vs Sasaki. There are people who hate puppy dogs, warm autumn evenings, and fresh strawberries. I liked how Ishii wouldn't let Jericho bait him to the outside even though Jericho is a master of that. ZIMBRA AND CRAIG H ROAD REPORTS!!

Oh man. KENTA and Marufuji teaming up again gives me warmly nostalgic feelings.

So we get DT vs The Wayward Sons match #2 of 7. It's obviously gonna be fast-paced and exciting. What really has me intrigued, though, is whether - and how - they might make each of the seven matches distinct. Will they escalate? It's not really possible to escalate from their PPV match, is it? Will they work a little differently in each iteration? Will the finishes be unique? Just to be different, will they try a match with two or three miedos rather than cero? Jericho vs Ishii!!! I am a flat-out mark for the Stone Pitbull. I am not saying that Bryan vs SUZUKI was the BEST AEW match ever or the best match of the last few years. I am saying it is my favourite AEW match and my favourite match of the last few years. So I like strong style guys showing up in AEW. And even though my friend Matt might disagree, Ishii vs Kingston is right up there for me as well. So I am stoked. I am ready. Maybe a smidge less stoked than I was for Kingston vs Akiyama, but still pretty darned stoked. Starksy vs All Ego to see which one (Starks) will get to fight the new champ! I'm looking for this to maybe be Ethan's best match in AEW so far. Speaking of which... I am expecting Orange vs Hager to be Hager's best AEW singles match so far. Lotta high expectations on Gordlow's part here. And Regal gonna explain why oh why he broke our hearts. What else we gonna get? I don't even know if a ladies' match has been announced. I'm like a kid heading out for Halloween wondering what candy I'm gonna get. Also: CHICAGO CROWD REACTIONS!!!

That's crazy! Mox didn't bleed in a main event title match! Do you know how much money we could have won on DraftStars? And, @SirFozzieISiSirFozzieISirFozzieISiSirFozziFozzieISiSirFozzieISirFozzieISiSirFozz I can confirm that there are few finer feelings than having DEAN curse at you for making a dad joke! also I guess I can confirm I still have issues with @-ing people.

Let me get this outa the way: I HATED the ending. But, only because I wanted Regal, Bryan, Claudio, and Mox to be BCC 4 Life and stay together forever. I was a hell of a main event, though. I prefer MJF in the ring to MJF on the mic. Anyone else? MJF now stands for Muscular Jacked-up Freak. I was surprised by the crowd booing Moxley! I guess Regal and Bryan can stay together... we'll see how Friedman fits in. I felt like it was a 4-way tie for MOTN: Kingston's Road, the cage match,the Trios Title match, and Storm vs Hayter. All great in their own way and four really different and distinct matches. Impressive. Loved the pre-show! Loved the crowd! My mark-out tank was empty by the time the tag title match rolled around. I enjoyed the overarching theme of "using tools ( such as hammers or pliers) for evil will win you a title but cost you your immortal soul." PRE-SHOW Rocky! Nice job on saving the "mystery partner" reveal. Having Hausen and Cassidy together makes total sense now. The goofy dudes who can really go. Full Gear would be a good nickname for Brian Cage. Who doesn't love a nice "David and Goliath" plus "Injured bodypart" story? Nice structure. I am so excited for the AEW video game! Kingston Road Style! Pure Wrestling Love! Imagine getting respect from your idol like that. I can confirm that Akiyama is an awesome dude. I "almost" started crying when Kingston paid tribute to Baba, Jumbo, Misawa... MAIN CARD I see TWO Cages! That was a hell of a crimson mask on Jungle Boy, and some classic cage match images. Christian stealing the key was too slick. FUCK C.M. PUNK!! and COLT CABANA chants!! What a pop for The Wayward Sons! I'm working on a "Top 200 Spots" list for the Trios Title match. Not a complaint. BEST OF SE7EN!! What's in the box?! WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!? Tony K: More wrestling! Jade's Thundercats ring gear! Oh, my! First Nyla fell down, then... What have I become? The sing-along is still one of the best things in wrestling. Or, in Sports Entertainment. I think they did a good job of using the 4-way stip to tell stories. Sammy is The Real Judas. Also Bryan. I was hoping the crowd would be 100% behind Britt, forcing AEW to BMMSM was BMMSM but also Wardlow flying. More like Ward-high, eh? Eh? Loved the Ohtani shout out. You can donate when you go to shows in Japan. ISHII!!! STONE PITBULL!!! AEW really does love us! I take back all that Burger King stuff... ...oh. Jeff Jarrett. Enjoyed Satnam re-defining "Catch as catch can." Hayter and Storm beat the hell outa one another, had so many great near-falls, and as much as I like Toni Storm I am glad they pulled the trigger. Crowd was awesome. Match was awesome. I was semi-hemi-burned out for the final two matches but they were both really good. What a show! Ishii coming up! Best of Seven! Takeshita is All Elite. Oh. Hell. Yeah.

That's pretty crazy! Both of us ended up getting exactly what we asked for, in fact: 　 How are we supposed to not love AEW now? EXACTLY what we asked for. Somebody there wants the same things we do. It's pretty cool and fun, in my opinion.

Or, to spin it the other way: Isn't it awesome that a true wrestling nerd, like many of us here on these boards, has decided to use his fortuitous circumstances to live his pro wrestling nerd dreams? It's cool because he still has his love for it, and those of us so inclined benefit because we get to see things like Kingston & Ortiz vs Takeshita & Akiyama. Good for Tony Khan, living his best life in a way that makes other's lives better as well!

What a great hour of pro wrestling! Come home, AEW, all is forgiven! I loved Archer vs Starks starting in the back. I loved the outa nowhere finish. You keep Archer looking special even in defeat because his matches are different. The side of the steps is the hardest part of the steps. Moriarty vs Hook is BattleArts-ian professional wrestling! Will DEAN also think so? I hope so. I'll look foolish if he has already said it wasn't. Hook's best match yet? I forgot both these guys in my fantasy booking post. I stink. Hey! Also Madison's best match yet. Wow. Athena is really very good at professional wrestling. Athena vs Mercedes. Homemade wings vs German engineering. YES! ORANGE AND BEST FRIENDS ON THE PPV!!! And Rocky!! Back to back spooky videos. Hold off on Kingston and Akiyama. Yes. That's how to lay it out. Mad King pays tribute to Kobashi and Piper one right after the other. Sweet powerslam from Ortiz. I was so happy while this was going on. I am still happy. Much more stoked for tomorrow, now, also.

This is kind of continuing a (pleasant and hopefully interesting) discussion I was having with Matt on the Dynamite thread. I am kind of under the impression that a PPV is still where a pro wrestling promotion showcases the wrestlers, belts, angles etc etc that are *most important* at the time. So Saraya and Jeff Jarrett being featured on the upcoming PPV and FTR and Orange Cassidy being left off seems worrisome to me. Maybe that's old-fashioned thinking. And it's obviously not possible to book a PPV that is all things to all people. However: Assuming a PPV was still where you woulf want to showcase the best of your promotion, and assuming you were in Tony Khan's shoes, how would YOU book Full Gear 2022? Or, next year's first big PPV? Acknowledging that we don't have to deal with the actual human beings being booked, and their wants and needs. Just playing to our own personal tastes entirely. Whether that be wanting Danielson on top, hating the Elite, not being in favour of the ROH acquisition, preferring shoot style, wanting more stories, being nostalgic for the weird early days of the promotion... whatever your deal might be. purpose is 2-fold. 1 - see what and who everyone prefers, personally. 2 - develop some empathy and compassion for the booker. It's really hard! Even with obvious people I like, such as Hanger and Stat, out with injuries, it's impossible to fit everyone I want on the PPV. I need ten matches on the main card and four on the pre-show, some of them over-stuffed. It's too much! Realistically, I'd have to shift a couple of matches to TV the week before or after. Which only goes to prove Matt's point. "Rules" You have been booker since before the last PPV. We can assume matches have been built to. Maybe you have some different championship titles. And champions. Maybe you keep the same ones. If you hate long PPVs, maybe book fewer matches. You can bring in anyone that AEW might realistically have access to. I'd bring in a few friends and favourites and it hypothetically bums me out I can't bring in more. Up to you whether or not you have a magic wand that can heal injuries, make people forgive Punk, free people from contracts elsewhere, etc etc Here's my best attempt: Obviously my AEW would already be out of business... And I am sure I forgot someone great and three ladies' matches out of fourteen is not enough. (Edit: Starks. I forgot Ricky Starks. For one). (And Hook. I stink. It's impossible). But I hope other people here wanna play this game, too.

I can only speak for myself (and I don't even wanna try and speculate how the minds of certain consistently -negative posters process information beyond acknowledging that it does feel nice when a one-off low rating fits with your personal crackpot theories; and also to admit that a very high rating - say them hitting 1.5 million or something - during this period would have given me a sinking feeling that there is no turning back and that the far more reasonable posters who want AEW to be more like the corporate wrestling on the other channel were right all along... this is turning into a very long parenthetical, but in fact I just realised that the low rating makes me happy in a selfish way which... which proves that you, Matt, were correct about "Tony K cares more about Gordi's needs right now than Gordi cares about Tony K's needs." Which IS pretty funny now that I acknowledge it as true). Maybe Ii should have replied in the navel-gazing thread. ALL that being said: From my personal perspective, the issue IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN the wrestling (per se). The actual in ring work remains a consistent highlight of my week. The wrestlers performing in the ring continue to individually delight me every Thursday morning and Saturday afternoon (my time) and for that reason Dynamite and Rampage remain appointment viewing for me. The only shows I regularly watch as they are happening, because the wrestling is great and chatting about it with the international group of crazed fans I belong to is delightful. I have been less positive than usual about AEW for a few weeks now, but apart from a move away from a 90s Giant Baba-esque "almost all clean finishes" style and toward sometimes having multiple schmozz finishes on a single show (which is more of a booking thing) I remain 98% positive about the in-ring work. My deal is that I definitely feel a shift away from a more indie-and-Japan (and Mexico) focus into a more WWE-type of presentation. Maybe the shift is about 90/10 (when the "Codyverse" was the more WWE-ish part of the show) to about 70/30 or 60/40 some weeks with Saraya and MJF On Top and leaning very very heavily into merch and catch-phrases with The Acclaimed (who remain delightful themselves and who have been great in-ring) being examples of the more WWE-ish stuff. But it's not on them, as such, I'd like them all to succeed. It's a slight change in feel, in tone, in presentation. A shift slightly away from the delightfully weird and unpredictable and toward the mainstream. A slightly greater emphasis on names that non-hardcore fans might recognize. Perhaps a lesser chance of real risks being taken w/r/t who goes over and who gets pushed right now. We still get the deeply weird and very indie Orange Cassidy as one of our champions, but he isn't a featured attraction on the PPV, for example. I don't think it's deniable, and the reasoning behind it, with a new TV deal coming up, makes sense. And I guess it makes me a bad person that I am relieved that it hasn't been a wild run-away success (same day US ratings wise). But it ain't the wrestling. And Dark remains delightfully weird and unpredictable And we are getting Mad King's Dream Match in less than three hours.

@Hayabusa, are you doing a Natural parody gimmick now, brother? Apparently tomorrow's *other* matches include Hook vs Tigah Style and Athena vs Madison. Reportedly Starks vs Archer has been moved to the PPV pre-show. Not sure what we might get as a replacement. Bear Country vs Gates of Agony or Yuka Sakazaki vs Freya or Dustin vs Parker Boudreaux please! Or just let Mad King's Dream Match go half an hour. I don't think any of us would be unhappy with that. Edit: I guess I misunderstood. Actually Starks vs Archer on Rampage and Starks vs Cage on the pre-show. So presumably no Parker Boudreaux.

Rock solid proof that Burger King Chalkenger Brand AEW is a miserable catastrophic failure. Time to do a hard shift back into being a big weird indie catering specifically and exclusively to the hardcore fan-base.

I really really enjoyed the opener. Obviously, I guess. Not exactly a secret that all of those guys are really good. Claudio is a freak! Doing lunges while holding a dude in a vertical suplex position is absurd! I also really enjoyed Top Flight and Fox vs Death Triangle. Less obviously? Nah. I like that flashy stuff just fine, particularly when it is done so well and so creatively. Dante is a different kind of freak. Even in there with Pac, Fenix, and Fox, his athleticism stands out. That's nuts. Toni Storm hit the Ass Attack twice, so I am doubly happy. I enjoyed that match, too. Hey! Positivity! I like the stuff they added to the PPV. Nothing surprising, but all of it should be excellent. Including the Elite returning. I am so stoked for Mad King's Dream Match on Rampage. Probably even more so than for the PPV. Actually, scratch the "possibly." It's a dream match for me, too.

I am pretty sure that at one point both @DEANand I had Bunny on our Top 10 Current Female Pro Wrestlers lists at the same time. She's just so naturally hate-able as a heel. But, as long as Tony Storm is mashing her ass into someone's head at max velocity I am happy. Hopefullly Bunny is well and back on TV soon.

Good Lord! Thank you! That was a surrealist masterpiece. 2010s Indie crowd having fun is the perfectly apt comparison. The loudest guy in the crowd even sounds almost identical to my crazy Osaka Pro superfan buddy Kenji. Also: Can you guess how many people there are, in the world, where if they said "Here's some shaky fan cam footage of a Tiger Jeet Singh match that I think you'll enjoy" my response would be to immediately drop everything and watch the match? Glad I did. That made my day even brighter. Edit: Kenji, who is like that at wrestling shows:

Every one of those matches should be straight up excellent! And, uh... I don't mind hearing from Mox and Joe!

Cheers! I tend to shy away from making predictions, partly because I don't wanna let being wrong interfere with enjoying the matches That being said, I am pretty invested in the outcome of a lot of these matches. I don't wanna hammer on it too much because I don't want to be one of those tiresome people who constantly complains that AEW is not catering specifically to their particular tastes... But it comes down to the whole Burger King/Small excellent burger chain Pepsi/Craft Cola Coors/Craft Beer Indie Punk Band/Major Label Punk Band crossroads that I can't help but frame AEW as being at now. Are they gonna stick with being a big weird indie promotion, or (as seems inevitable now) are they gonna shift into a more WWE-lite mode as they attempt to grow by following the "challenger brand" template. Selfishly, I want them to stay a big weird indie. Jericho retaining seems more challenger-brand-ish (if you will) while Bryan winning seems more playng-to-the-hardcores-ish, even though Bryan was in WWE more recently than Jericho. So I'd mark out for a Dragon victory not just because he is one of my all-time favourites but also because it would signal (to me at least) that AEW might be leaning the way I want them to lean. Cynical me predicts a Jericho win. Hopeful me predicts a title change. Bryan winning would make me happiest. I want Jamie Hayter to be presented as a bigger and more important star than Saraya or Britt Baker, or Jade, and a Hayter win would make me happier than a Toni win because I see Hayter as more homegrown AEW and Storm as more of a WWE import even though Toni Storm is obviously awesome. So that kind of thinking colours every aspect of what I hope will happen on this show, whether I want to feel that way or not. Cynical me predicts a Regal turn and an MJF win which is presented as the biggest most important thing on the show and marks the real start of the Burger King AEW era. Hopeful me understands that Mox deserves some time off with his family and figures that MJF on top might just surprise me in a god way. Also, the match itself just might be excellent... I really hope there are zero AEW PPVs with Jeff Jarrett on them but Eddie Kingston not. (Edit: also Orange Cassidy is not booked for the PPV yet, I think). I really hope Mad King fights Akiyama or someone awesome on this one, even on the pre-show (or he and Ortiz fight an awesome, unpredictable team). It's a weirdly big deal to me, and it's good to know I am not alone in that feeling. I'm pretty confident we'll get Wardlow, Hobbs, Joe, FTR and Fenix all on the show one way or another, at least. No Shida, though.

If I were booking that field we'd be getting an Eddie Kingston vs Lance Archer Japanese-style brawl as the finals. But AEW is pushing younger guys here and [Wim Hoff voice] that's... okay! I am, personally, less stoked up for this AEW PPV than for any previous AEW PPV... though I am still fairly stoked. I am not on the Push Ethan Page bandwagon. Is there even such a thing? There's definitely a Make MJF The Star bandwagon. I am not on it. I agree with William Regal's in-story take on Friedman. He's playing at being a bad guy and getting "I love him because he's so good at playing the heel role" reactions. I will be bummed out if Regal turns on Mox. I am not looking forwrd to MJF as champ with shows being built around variations of his "Do you want to know how I got this scarf?" worked-shoot promo. I realise I am pretty firmly in the minority there and I am OK with that. Storm vs Hayter,on the other hand, has me 100% stoked. Should be the best match on the card. I am SO hoping for a Hayter win. Partly because she's great but also because she's gotten over with the live crowds organically, and putting her over a big-name import would be a very anti-Burger King move for AEW to make. On the other hand, if Jeff Jarrett goes over, I may have to reconsider my fandom. I personally would much prefer to see Eddie Kingston on the PPV. Or Shida. Or JD Drake. Or Toa Liona. Or Wardlow, Hobbs, and Joe, or FTR... Who are likely to be added so that's.... okay! The ROH Title match is gonna be great and any of those guys could win and it would be fun to watch what happens next. A Bryan win, while possibly the least likely outcome, would mark me out pretty hard. I'd love to see him as champ when they start up the new ROH TV show. Though, Dragon really doesn't need the belt. As @Phil Schneiderargues in his latest Ringer piece, Dragon seems content just to be free to fight long interesting matches with a variety of talented opponents. DMD vs ex-Paige is not for me and that's... okay. I am curious of they will turn Jade 100% face here. SioG and Acclaimed have some good ring chemistry and some storyline intrigue. They could steal the show. I like both JB and Bad Dinosaur but this story is kinda played out now. Expecting FTR v Ass Boys, Elite v Death Triangle, and Hobbs v Wardlow v Joe to all be added, making the show too long but also more my kind of show. Also hoping for Kingston v Akiyama to be announced for the pre-show, and like Bryan v MiSu, steal the whole show.

It's funny because it's true. As we stand now: Jeff Jarrett is on the PPV. Not on the PPV as of yet? Wardlow, Eddie Kingston, Fenix, FTR, Garcia, Wheeler, Shida...

So, none of you have watched Cutler vs Pretty Peter yet? Cuz Dragon vs Sammy 2 outa 3 was really good, but y'all are voting for it over what was incontestably The Greatest Match Of All Time.